International, interstate and local buyers boost Roemahkita ram sale

An Eyre Peninsula ram sale had some distinguished visitors from Canada on Tuesday, which highlighted a successful day for the stud.

That's right, Roemahkita's top price buyers didn't come from SA, or even interstate, instead a pair of farmers flew all the way from Alberta, Canada, to secure top-of-the-line genetics.

Mike Easton, Peace Valley, Alberta, Canada, and Jeff Jacobs, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, joined forces to purchase Roemahkita 250003, a ram originally destined to be retained in stud.

While the first lot in the sale topped the auction, a further 95 rams were sold for a clearance of 96 from 110 and an average of $2233.

The average was a solid $601 up on last year.

Sold for $14,500, an on-property record, the 139 kilogram sale topping ram had wool figures of 17.3 micron, 2.4 for standard deviation, 14 for coefficient of variation, and a comfort factor of 100 per cent.

It was twin-born and sired by Roemahkita 230009.

Mr Jacobs said the ram was the style of sheep the pair wished to cross on their ewes.

"He's got everything: build purpose, his wool, his carcase," he said.

"His looks are important, but his micron and standard deviation were right where we needed them to be to make an impact on our flocks back home."

Mr Easton said the fact the ram was twin-born also made it a standout.

"Looking at him and his twin in the catalogue it tells us that his mama was doing a really good job taking care of both those boys," he said.

"That's critical for us (as) we're really high on multiple births in our area and we want mamas to take care of both of the kids."

Roemahkita stud principal Aaron Watson said it was a feather in the cap for the stud.

"It all happened with an email out of the blue," he said.

"We had a fair bit of interest in him at Bendigo and the Canadian guys had been in contact with us for about a month and he just suited them to a T.

"They wanted a low micron, high body weight ram and Lot 1A was that, so it was a good result for them to secure him in the sale."

A number of rams in the sale were sold to other stud buyers, including Roemahkita 250011 which sold to the House family, Barloo stud, Gnowangerup, WA, for $10,000 at Lot 3.

With the same sire as the top-price ram, it had figures of 19.2 Micron, 2.7 SD, 13.9 CV and 99.7pc CF.

Buying on behalf of Barloo, Cousins Merino Service's Paul Cousins said his clients had also shown interest in Roemahkita rams at Bendigo.

"They saw (Lot 3) and he was just a true-to-type ram with plenty of definition and style in his wool and plenty of it," he said.

"He'll go onto stud duty over in WA for their top ewes."

Volume buyers for the day were the Newton family, Mount Wedge, who picked up 10 rams to an average of $1170.

With an overall successful sale, Mr Watson said he was pleased with the recognition so early on in their endeavour.

"This is our second sale, so it gives us some real excitement to continue," he said.

The stud will offer rams in the upcoming Adelaide Ram Sale.

Elders stud stock auctioneer Tony Wetherall had auctioneering duties for the day.